Furfuryl alcohol, having the structure shown below, is an organic compound containing a furan substituted with a hydroxymethyl group. Furfuryl alcohol is commercially derived from corncobs and sugar cane bagasse. Commercially, furfuryl alcohol is used to impregnate wood to provide improved moisture-dimensional stability, hardness, and decay and insect resistance. Furfuryl alcohol is also used commercially to prepare furan resins for use in the metal casting industry.

Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, a saturated derivative of furfuryl alcohol, has the following structure:
Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol is a relatively hydrophilic compound due to the polarity induced by the presence of oxygen atoms and the absence of methyl groups. Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol is viewed as relatively non-toxic. The use of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol as an adjuvant in synthetic flavoring has been accepted by the FDA (see 21 CFR 172.515), as has the use of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol in contact with dry food (see 21 CFR 176.180).
The hydrophilic character of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol is in strong contrast to the structures of conventional silicones, such as polydimethylsiloxanes. Polydimethylsiloxanes have many practical uses in which their hydrophobicity provides benefits such as water-repellency and release characteristics. There are many applications in which it is desirable to combine the hydrophobicity of silicones with hydrophilicity. The most widely utilized approach is to modify a polydimethylsiloxane by grafting a poly(ethyleneoxide) segment to the backbone. These materials are often referred to as PEG (from polyethyleneglycol) modified siloxanes. They find applications, for example, as surfactants and antifoams in industrial applications and as emulsifiers for cosmetic formulations. Most of these materials have a minimum of three PEG groups in order to induce satisfactory properties. Less desirable aspects of this chemistry is the fact that they are relatively unstable in aqueous environments due to the oxygen catalyzed break-down of these materials initiated at the carbon atom adjacent to an ethereal oxygen of the PEG. A rupture of a single bond anywhere along the PEG chain renders the materials ineffective, and can cause release of low molecular weight PEGs that suffer from a variety of toxicology issues.